Joining The Hollywood Reporter Awards Chatter podcast, J.J. Abrams got a chance to open up and respond to fans and critics who have called The Force Awakens a bit too derivative of the original trilogy. If you’ve read Matty Granger’s review for The Force Awakens — a fine response to a recent Huffington Post article that caused a little outrage online — or looked into the Star Wars ring theory, you’d get a glimpse of where Abrams is coming from with his version of Star Wars.
Still, the director knew folks would be upset with some part of his film. But as he tells THR, he felt there were important reasons to call back to those original elements:
“I knew that, whatever we did, there would be a group of people — and I was just hoping and praying that it would be smaller than not — that would take issue with any number of things…
“I can understand that someone might say, ‘Oh, it’s a complete rip-off!’ ” he says, adding, “What was important for me was introducing brand new characters using relationships that were embracing the history that we know to tell a story that is new — to go backwards to go forwards.”
He also talks a bit about how much influence he has had on the next entry into the series, including where Rian Johnson wants to go that differs from his vision:
“He had things that he came up with where he asked if it was possible if we could make some adjustments with what we were doing at the end, most of which we did — there were just a couple that didn’t feel right, so he made adjustments — but it was just collaboration.”
Abrams held strong to the idea that he’s “got to make a Star Wars movie” and that’s really all that matters in the end. He doesn’t want to seem greedy with the series, which is a nice take on the series now. It also explains why there was plenty of fan service in the film — fans finally getting a chance to make their own Star Wars films. It’s hard not to be interested to see where the series will go under the new group of directors. Will it be a completely corporate experience or will some of their personal ticks manage to make their way to the screen.
You can check out the rest of the interview on the Awards Chatter podcast or check out The Hollywood Reporter, especially if you’re interested in the Harry Potter influence on the new Star Wars.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
